The 16th Summit Meeting of the Heads of States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) took place on 23-24 June 2016 inTashkent, the capital of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Leaders of the SCOMemberStates, Heads of Structural Divisions of the SCO, delegations of Observer and GuestStates and regional and international organizations participated in the meeting. Ambassador Gong Jianwei, Executive Director of the CICA participated in the Summit as an invited guest.

During the Summit, the participants highlighted main outcomes of the achievements of the SCO in last 15 years and discussed issues of current situation and prospects of the future SCO development as well as topical regional and international issues

After in-depth discussion, participating states approved the “Tashkent Declaration of 15 anniversary of the SCO” and signed a number of documents related to the activities of the organization

Leaders of the SCO Member States agreed to signing of Memorandum on Obligations by leaders of India and Pakistan for joining existing conventions of the organization which are obligatory for each MemberState. The procedure of accepting India and Pakistan into the SCO was launched in 2015 and is likely to be completed within next one year. Republic of Kazakhstan assumed Chairmanship of SCO on the conclusion of the Summit and will hold the next Summit in Astana in June 2017.

On the sidelines of the Summit in Tashkent Ambassador Gong Jianwei, Executive Director of the CICA Secretariat, held bilateral meetings with heads of international and regional organizations on the issues of mutual cooperation.